Recently, the pandemic has flared up again in many countries. The situation is particularly severe in India: It has recorded the highest one-day tally of new Covid-19 cases anywhere in the world, and the death toll is growing rapidly. The pandemic is completely out of control. The epidemiologists in India warned that the triple mutation (B.1.618) has been detected in many states in India, and that it’s more infectious than other strains. Many people live in panic and fear and are at a complete loss, worrying that they and their family members will be infected, and even more afraid of dying or losing their loved ones. Besides this, various countries around the world are seeing increased famines, earthquakes, floods, and wars. Facing the ever-greater disasters, people can only call continuously to the Lord for His care and protection. However, have we ever thought about the following? What exactly is God’s intention when disasters strike? How can we survive the disasters? Let’s fellowship about this issue today.
God’s Will Behind the Occurrence of Disasters
Two thousand years ago, the disciples of the Lord Jesus asked Him, “What shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3). The Lord Jesus replied, “And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:6–8). Nowadays, disasters are a frequent occurrence all over the world. Earthquakes, pandemics, famines, wars, and floods occur one after another, and especially Covid-19 has spread around the world. These signs clearly show us that the Bible prophecies about the Lord’s return have been fulfilled and that the Lord has already returned. So our urgent priority now is to seek God’s appearance and work. However, people today have become more and more evil and corrupt. Many people do not acknowledge the existence of God, and even many believers in God pursue worldly things, or live their lives indulging in gluttony, pleasure-seeking and carnal, sensual desires. Very few people take the initiative to search for God and His appearance and work. Even though many people have heard the news of the Lord’s return, they do not actively seek or investigate, but turn a blind eye to God’s salvation of the last days. Therefore, by allowing these disasters to occur, God is sending us warnings to awaken our apathetic hearts so that we can clearly see that the prophecies of the coming of the Lord have already been fulfilled and that the Lord has come back. We should seek the appearance of God without delay, for only thus will we have the chance to gain God’s protection in disasters.
The Only Path to Be Protected From Disasters
Then how can we welcome the Lord and get the chance to obtain God’s care and protection? Let’s first have a look at what the words of God say.
God says, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
“Since we are searching for the footprints of God, it behooves us to search for God’s will, for the words of God, for His utterances—because wherever there are new words spoken by God, the voice of God is there, and wherever there are the footsteps of God, God’s deeds are there. Wherever there is the expression of God, there God appears, and wherever God appears, there the truth, the way, and the life exist. In seeking God’s footprints, you have ignored the words ‘God is the truth, the way, and the life.’ And so, many people, even when they receive the truth, do not believe that they have found God’s footprints, and still less do they acknowledge the appearance of God. What a grave mistake! The appearance of God cannot be reconciled with man’s notions, still less can God appear at the behest of man. God makes His own choices and His own plans when He does His work; moreover, He has His own objectives and His own methods. Whatever work He does, He has no need to discuss it with man or seek his advice, much less to notify each and every person of His work. This is the disposition of God, which should, moreover, be recognized by everyone. If you desire to witness the appearance of God, to follow God’s footsteps, then you must first walk away from your own notions. You must not demand that God do this or that, much less should you place Him within your own confines and limit Him to your own notions. Instead, you should demand of yourselves how you ought to seek God’s footprints, how you ought to accept God’s appearance, and how you ought to submit to the new work of God: This is what man should do. Since man is not the truth, and is not possessed of the truth, he should seek, accept, and obey.”
From these words of God, we can know clearly that the Lord will speak words when He returns. If we want to welcome the Lord and keep up with God’s footsteps, we should pay attention to searching for God’s utterances and listening to His voice. When we recognize the voice of God, it means we are seeing God’s appearance and greeting the Lord’s return. So, when others preach to us the gospel of the Lord’s return, we shouldn’t reject it blindly, or turn a blind eye to it, but rather, we should take the initiative to seek and look into it. Only by doing so can we welcome the Lord and have the chance to obtain God’s care and protection.
Nowadays, great disasters are befalling mankind. There are not many days left for us to repent. If you remain indifferent to the Lord’s return and do not actively seek and investigate God’s end-time work to welcome the Lord, do you know what God’s attitude will be toward people like this? Here is what God says about that: “When humanity was full of corruption and disobedient toward God to a grievous extent, God had to destroy this humanity, because of His disposition and His essence, and in accordance with His principles. But because of God’s essence, He still pitied mankind, and even wanted to use various ways to redeem mankind so they could continue to live. Man, however, opposed God, continued to disobey God, and refused to accept God’s salvation; that is, refused to accept His good intentions. No matter how God called to them, reminded them, supplied them, helped them, or tolerated them, man did not understand or appreciate it, nor did they pay attention. In His pain, God still did not forget to grant man His maximum tolerance, waiting for man to reverse course. After He reached His limit, He did what He had to do without any hesitation. In other words, there was a specific time period and process from the moment God planned to destroy mankind to the start of His work in destroying mankind. This process existed for the purpose of enabling man to reverse course, and this was the last chance God gave to man. So what did God do in this period before destroying mankind? God did a significant amount of reminding and exhorting work.”
“In the vast expanse of the world, oceans silting into fields, fields flooding into oceans, over and over. Except for He who rules over everything among all things, no one is able to lead and guide this human race. There is no mighty one to labor or make preparations for this human race, still less is there anyone who can lead this human race toward the destination of light and liberate it from earthly injustices. God laments the future of mankind, He grieves at the fall of mankind, and is pained that mankind is marching, step by step, toward decay and the path of no return. No one has ever given thought to which direction such a mankind that has broken the heart of God and renounced Him to seek the evil one might be headed. It is precisely for this reason why no one senses the wrath of God, why no one seeks a way to please God or tries to draw closer to God, and what is more, why no one seeks to comprehend God’s grief and pain. Even after hearing the voice of God, man continues on his own path, persists in straying from God, evading God’s grace and care, and shunning His truth, preferring to sell himself to Satan, the enemy of God. And who has given any thought—should man persist in his obduracy—to how God will act toward this humanity that has dismissed Him without a backward glance? No one knows that the reason for God’s repeated reminders and exhortations is because He has prepared in His hands a calamity like never before, one that will be unbearable to the flesh and soul of man. This calamity is not merely a punishment of the flesh, but also of the soul.”
From these words of God, we can understand: God has the essence of holiness and loathes the evil and corruption of mankind, so He has no other choice but to allow disasters to befall mankind. However, since God made man, He also cannot bear to see him being destroyed in this way, and therefore, before God rains down the great disasters, He gives everyone the opportunity to accept His salvation. It is the same as when God let Noah preach the gospel, when over the course of more than a century, God gave man the opportunity to come to Him to receive His salvation. The same is true for the second coming of the Lord. Now only The Church of Almighty God is openly testifying that the Lord Jesus has returned and that He is Christ of the last days—Almighty God. Almighty God has carried out His work for 30 years since the year 1991. The Word Appears in the Flesh as expressed by Almighty God, as well as various gospel movies, crosstalks and skits, choral works, and all kinds of testimonies of God’s chosen people who have undergone the transformation of their dispositions—all produced by The Church of Almighty God—have also been posted online, and are there for people from all over the world to seek and investigate. God also makes use of people who preach to us and witness God’s work in the last days. Many true believers who love the truth have heard God’s voice and returned to Almighty God one by one. The gospel of the coming of the kingdom of heaven has spread all over the world. As of now, God’s work of the last days is about to come to an end, and the great disasters, the likes of which have not been seen for millennia, are before our eyes. It’s just as the Lord Jesus prophesied: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). The time that God has allowed for man is running out, and the door of grace will soon be closed. All we can do is seize this crucial opportunity to seek and investigate God’s appearance and work in the last days, and welcome the Lord’s return. This is the only path to gain God’s protection in the midst of the disasters.
Friends, do you want to receive the Lord as soon as possible?